West Indies had been relentless under the stewardship of Brian Lara. Lara had been the best captain of West Indies as he managed to win major tournaments. He had a terrific home Series against Australia before the Champions Trophy 2004. They also had a terrific Champions Trophy in England as they outclassed high-quality sides in the Champions Trophy 2004. They progressed to semi-finals convincingly and thrashed Pakistan to qualify for the Champions Trophy Final. Brian Lara would have been satisfied with the effort and they were just a step away from the trophy.
West Indies dominated the Champions Trophy with their quality pace-attack. Dillion and Bradshaw have been the consistent performers for West Indies. They were placed in Group B and no one expected this kind of performance from West Indies. They thrashed Bangladesh by 8 wickets in second match of their group. They also outclassed the brutal South African side by 5 wickets in their last group match. Sarwan played an important role in West Indies win against South Africa as he played a magnificent innings of 75. So, they topped Group B and had a significant task on hand in the knock-out stage.
However, West Indies batting was heavily dependent on Chris Gayle, Hinds, Brian Lara and Sarwan. Chris Gayle and Hinds had provided them a prolific start, which was capitalized by the middle order batsman. However, their batting unit failed in knock-out stages as they were unable to offer resistance to the uneven bounce of the wicket. But their fast bowlers – Dillion and Bradshaw exploited those conditions perfectly. The duo literally won every match for the West Indies in the knock-out stage.
England, on the other hand, played brilliantly in Champions Trophy 2004. They exploited the home advantage and came up trumps. They were placed in Group D. They thrashed Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka to top the Group. They had dominant pace-attack in the form of Steve Harmison and Darren Gough. Steve Harmison has been the most reliable bowler for England as he was the leading wicket taker in Champions Trophy for England. But their batsmen haven’t given them enough runs to defend in that particular tournament.
Final – England vs West Indies Champions Trophy 2004: West Indies won by 2 wickets.
Both teams were riding on wave of confidence on eve of the final match in Champions Trophy. Michael Vaughan was confident of good show against quality West Indies side. The wicket was good for batting and surprisingly, Brian Lara won the toss and opted to bowl first as he was looking to exploit the conditions early. They had a good start with the ball, as Bradshaw was constantly troubling the England openers with his outswingers, and Dillon was testing them with short-pitched deliveries. However, West Indies got the first breakthrough when Bradshaw grabbed the important wicket of Solanki in the fourth over of the match as the latter was thwarted by the uneven bounce of the wicket. The England captain also was unable to offer resistance to the uneven bounce as he was dismissed for 7, leaving England reeling at 43/2.
West Indies kept chipping away at the wickets regularly as England lost Strauss, Flintoff and Collingwood in quick succession. But Trescothick put on a constructive partnership of 73 runs with Giles, to help England cross the 200-run mark. After the wicket of Trescothick in the 47th over, England completely lost the plot and were bowled out for 217.
It was reasonable score as the wicket was aiding the fast bowlers. England also had quality fast bowlers to exploit the condition. Indeed, they rattled the West Indies top order as they got rid of Gayle, Sarwan and Hinds cheaply and had them on the ropes at 80/5. Chanderpaul was the only batsmen to offer resistance to the uneven bounce, but he too didn’t convert his start into a meaningful innings. After his wicket in the 34th over, England were looking favourites to win the Champions Trophy. But, one thing in West Indies favour was the required run-rate as it was less than five runs per over. Bradshaw didn’t allow the required run-rate to climb up as he played sensible cricket. He played a terrific innings of 34* and took the West Indies to a thrilling four-wicket victory with 7 balls to spare.
It was an extraordinary performance from West Indies. They chased pretty well in that tournament and hence they didn’t feel the heat in the finals. Watch the highlights of the match here.
http://youtu.be/soeudXuXrWI
